Tide to throw Nathan Kilcrease in second game of SEC baseball tournament

Nathan Kilcrease will start tomorrow's SEC tournament game for Alabama (UA photo).Converted reliever Nathan Kilcrease will take the mound tomorrow afternoon for Alabama's second game at this year's SEC baseball tournament at Regions Park.

For his sake, the bar has already been set pretty high.

Junior Jimmy Nelson fired his third consecutive complete game today, holding Auburn's powerful lineup to one run and five hits in a 7-1 Crimson Tide victory before a large crowd in Hoover.

Nelson struck out six and needed only 97 pitches to shut down the Tigers, the SEC's leader in basically every hitting category. It was a season-low in hits and the second-worst offensive performance this season for Auburn, dating back to a 2-0 loss in March at South Carolina.

"This is the best stretch I've had so far in my career," Nelson said.

"Nelson was outstanding for Alabama," Auburn coach John Pawlowski said. "We never really had a chance to get anything going."

The Crimson Tide (35-21) will face the winner of this afternoon's ongoing contest between South Carolina and Ole Miss at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said Nelson will not start another game in this tournament though he could make a relief appearance if the Tide is in contention to win the whole thing this weekend.